Trump mania

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The president had one hell of a Thursday, even by Trumpian standards.

Most notably, Trump let slip his true feelings about immigration from several countries during a meeting with legislators at the White House.

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said, several people briefed on the meeting told the Washington Post, referring to Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries. Sen. Dick Durbin, who was in the meeting, later confirmed Trump definitely said that.

The meeting was held to discuss the possibility of allowing immigrants from certain countries to remain in the U.S after the Trump administration announced a plan earlier in the week to kick out 200,000 Salvadoran immigrants and 45,000 Haitian immigrants in the U.S. since deadly earthquakes struck their countries years ago.

Most Republicans wouldn’t touch the comment, but some, including Tim Scott, the only African-American Republican in the Senate, ventured to call them “disappointing.”

Foreign diplomats were less quiet. The Haitian government said that Trump’s comments reflect the president’s “racist view of the Haitian community.” Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned the comments too. "I'm sorry, but there's no other word one can use but racist," Colville said in a statement.

Trump, however, suggested he never made the comments at all and blamed the reports on Democrats.

“Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said ‘take them out.’ Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings — unfortunately, no trust!” Trump tweeted.

While pondering immigration policies, Trump also “discovered” that there’s a very big river along part of the border, the 1,900-mile Rio Grande, so his wall wouldn’t necessarily have to cover the entire thing, Kellyanne Conway said on CNN Thursday.

Trump also remembered that his administration wants to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which gives intelligence agencies the authority to track the electronic communications of suspected foreign terrorists without a warrant.

At first, Trump tweeted his objections, based on a hunch that his campaign had been the target of spying from the law. “This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?” the president tweeted.

But a few hours later, he walked his criticism back.

“With that being said, I have personally directed the fix to the unmasking process since taking office and today’s vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!” he wrote on Twitter, hours before the House passed the legislation.

Trump’s quick flip-flop on the issue reportedly stunned Republican leaders.

Throughout the day, the administration also sprinkled in:

Trump saying that he “probably [has] a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un”
Trying to block a fourth undocumented teen from getting an abortion
Allowing states to require work permits before offering Medicaid benefits, which hasn’t ever been done
Blamed Obama for his decision not to attend the unveiling of the new London embassy

Aurons-nous une guerre de plus ?

L'année 2018 va être difficile. Si comme disait Voltaire : "Tes destins sont d'un homme, et tes vœux sont d'un Dieu."

Eh bien, pourvus que notre destin ne soit pas dans les mains de Donald pour tous les petits Mickeys que nous sommes !